The 18th East Asia Summit (EAC) will be held in Jakarta on September 7.
VAS was established in 2005 . as a forum for dialogue between leaders of the Asia-Pacific region on a wide range of strategic, political and economic issues of common interest, as well as the development of regional practical cooperation on the vectors approved by the leaders.
Initially, the East Asian Summit worked on 6 thematic tracks – energy, finance, emergency response, healthcare, education, regional interconnectedness. To date, this list, taking into account its inventory during the coordination of the Manila Action Plan of the EAC for 2018-2023 and the Jakarta Plan for 2023-2028, has been replenished with such areas as regional security, maritime cooperation, food security, economy, sustainable development, poverty reduction, environmental protection, climate, tourism, support women and youth.
The EAC includes the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, as well as ASEAN dialogue partners – Russia (since 2010), Australia, China, India, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, USA and Japan. This year, East Timor is invited to attend your events as a candidate for membership in ASEAN. The leadership functions at the East Asian Summit are assigned to the Chairman of the Association: in 2023 – Indonesia, then (alphabetically) – Laos.
The association’s calendar includes annual meetings of the heads of State and Government of the participating countries, meetings of foreign ministers and senior officials, contacts through sectoral mechanisms.
On July 12-14, in Jakarta, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov took part in meetings of the heads of foreign ministries in the formats of Russia-ASEAN, the EAC and the ASEAN Regional Security Forum (ARF).
Monitoring of current activities through the mechanism of the East Asian Summit is carried out within the framework of regular consultations of Permanent Representatives of the EAC member countries to ASEAN in Jakarta.
The agenda of the upcoming meeting will be built around the discussion of topical regional topics, as well as issues of the development of practical cooperation. Priority areas of sectoral cooperation are economy, energy, environmental protection, healthcare, maritime cooperation, emergency response, food security, education, regional interconnectedness.
Russia supports the expansion of multi-vector applied cooperation on the EAC platform with access to specific industry projects. The baggage of our initiatives at this site includes the establishment of regional work to combat pandemics with the launch of a mechanism for collective response to epidemic threats, the development of practical cooperation in the field of tourism. Relevant Russian ideas are enshrined in top-level thematic documents.
Reacting to the increasing regional demand for the development of volunteerism, the Russian side made a proposal to include this area in the agenda of the EAC, which was reflected in the statement of the Chairman of the 17th East Asian Summit (Phnom Penh, November 13, 2022). We see in this dynamically evolving phenomenon of civic responsibility prospects for deepening social and humanitarian interconnectedness in the region, strengthening contacts between people. The Western wing of the EAC, despite the support of the ASEAN initiative of Russia, is still trying to block its progress.
Work continues within the framework of the launched in 2013 at the site of the EAC on the initiative of Russia. dialogue on improving the regional security architecture. The next meeting in this format at the level of permanent representatives of the EAC member countries to ASEAN with the involvement of experts from the capitals took place on May 23 this year in Badung (Indonesia).
During the discussions at the East Asian Summit, the Russian side considers it important to emphasize the growing risks to the peaceful and sustainable development of the Asia-Pacific region against the background of the West’s confrontational line aimed at militarization of the regional space with the tightening of NATO’s potential here, the destruction of the security architecture that has developed around ASEAN and its total replacement with “Indo-Pacific” block structures operating in the logic of deterrence and counteraction.
Russia stands for strengthening the system of interstate relations in the region, including from the angle of interfacing ASEAN with the regional formats of the Eurasian space, primarily the SCO and the EAEU, working – like the Association – on a positive non-block agenda of interconnectedness and co-development.
Since 2017, the leadership of the executive bodies of the SCO and the EAEU has been regularly invited to top-level Asean events. The Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization participated in the East Asia Summit in 2017 and 2022. This year, the Association of Regional Cooperation of the Coastal Countries of the Indian Ocean (ARSIO) and the Forum of Pacific Island States will be your guests.
